Filter assemblies have been employed in a variety of applications including hydraulic systems, fuel systems and engine lubrication systems. Such assemblies heretofore have used replaceable filter elements that can be installed on a filter head for filtering fluid flowing between inlet and outlet passages in the filter head. The filter element typically is contained within a housing such as a can that can be screwed onto or off of the filter head. In a so-called spin-on filter, the can is discarded along with the filter element. In other arrangements, only the filter element is replaced and the housing is reused.
During use the filter element may become clogged to the point that is causes a problem in the system, such as inadequate flow to components downstream of the filter, excessive pressure upstream of the filter element, and/or damage to the filter element allowing the accumulated contaminants to flow to components downstream of the filter element. Replacement of the filter requires the entire housing and filter element to be removed. Such replacement can be extremely difficult when the closure, such as a threaded closure, has suffered corrosion or galling due to repeated removal/reattachment or due to the environment of use. For example, filter assemblies used in oil drilling applications are often subjected to air and moisture heavy with salts, causing corrosion of the filter assembly components. In these situations, great force and time can be necessary simply to remove the housing, or in a worse case, the housing and associated bowl coupling, such as threading, may become irreparably damaged in the removal process requiring replacement of the entire filter assembly including the bowl and housing.